


Without Blame

by WeezlBot



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Men Crying, Not really a Solangelo fic, Summoning the Dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:35:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22203451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeezlBot/pseuds/WeezlBot
Summary: Pollux has a special request for Nico di Angelo.AKA they summon Castor back.Just some good old hurt-comfort, really.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Will Solace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	Without Blame

**Author's Note:**

> The Weezl is back, bitches! I'm finishing up some of my old drabbles and posting them. This seemed to be the next nearest completion.  
> Also, this isn't really a Solangelo fic, but it does have Solangelo elements. They are dating here.

Nico jolted at a knock on his door.  _ Really?  _ he thought.  _ I just sat down! _ He opened the door and started as he saw the curly-headed blond on the other side, then sighed briefly in disappointment when he realized that it was not Will Solace. “... Pollux, right? You’re Dionysus’s son.”

“Yeah,” the other boy acknowledged at the mention of his name. “It’s me. Dionysus’s only son. May I… may I speak to you for a moment?”

“... Sure. Come on in.” Nico ushered Pollux in and he leaned awkwardly against the wall. “... What did you want to talk to me about?”

“... I… uh… I…” Pollux sniffled and cleared his throat. Come to think of it, his eyes were  _ really _ red. “I… well… I’m sure Will told you what today was, right?”

“... Yeah. The Battle of the Labyrinth’s anniversary. And… oh, gods.” Nico trailed off. “... I’m sorry.”

“... Will you bring him back for me?” Pollux’s voice blasted from his throat in a desperate exhalation. He started at his own intensity and cleared his throat. “... I… I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m fine with it. Hell, we can do it now. Are you okay with that?”

Pollux perked up. “Can we?”

“Of course. Come on. We… we can… ugh. There’s no privacy around here. Let’s go into the woods.”

“Of course. Near Zeus’s Fist.” Pollux sniffled again. “Where he… where he died.”

Nico nodded sympathetically. “Here. We’ll shadow travel. Hold my wrist.”

Pollux did what he was told and Nico pulled them into shadows. Pollux’s stomach practically clawed itself out of his body. Shadow-travel felt like being pulled behind a train that was moving at a hundred and twenty miles per hour. 

Fortunately, he made it without puking. He tumbled out at the base of Zeus’s fist, cracking his head on the rock and sending a hot bolt of pain shooting through it. Rubbing the back of his head, he blinked slowly and looked up. Nico was standing above him, a small shadow of a smile on his face. “Yeah. It takes a little bit of practice to get the ending right.”

“I’ll say,” Pollux groaned. He sat up. “So… how do we do this?”

Nico pulled a granola bar out of his pocket. “Okay. We need some food. All I have is this granola bar, but it’ll work. What was… what was his favorite food?”

“He liked ham and cheese sandwiches,” Pollux said, “and potato chips.”

“And I have neither. And… I didn’t think to ask you this beforehand, so I hope he’ll be okay with this granola bar.”

Pollux nodded. Nico, taking this as an affirmative, dug a small hole and began to chant. …  _ In Hades’ name, let the dead rise again and taste. Let the eternal rest be broken once more. _

Mist began to rise out of the hole and a ghostly hand reached for the granola bar. “Stop! Only Castor, son of Dionysus may taste.” 

The mist grouped up. A glowing form took place beside the hole and a familiar face took shape.  _ Oh, gods, please don’t let his first words to me be ‘who are you’. I won’t be able to take it. My heart will break and fall out of my chest. I’ll die.  _

“... Pollux?” 

Oh, gods, he’d forgotten what his voice sounded like. 

He extended a trembling hand to Castor, but it passed right through him. “... Cas… Castor…?”

A ghostly tear trickled down Castor’s face and he knelt so he was on Pollux’s eye level. He extended his arms to hug Pollux, but his arms slipped through him like a soft breeze. 

Pollux’s eyes stung. “... I’m sorry, Cas…”

“Don’t be sorry.” Castor’s voice cracked. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I just…” Pollux bit back a sob. “... I miss you.”

“I miss you too. It’s so lonely down here without you.”

Pollux felt wetness drip on his cheeks and he scrubbed it away. “... It’s even lonelier up here.” 

Castor wiped his own tear. “... I’m sorry. I never wanted to leave you, you know that. Right?”

Pollux nodded. “I know.” He took a shuddery breath. “I know.”

There was a pause. Castor sniffled and looked into Pollux’s eyes, imploring. “... Do you at least have some new friends? People who… people you hang out with? People who make you feel good?”

“... Well… not really… I tried… I tried hanging out with the Demeter girls Katie and Miranda but they had a big falling out and I didn’t want to… want to have to take sides so… so I just left… I couldn’t do it. So no… no new friends. Just a dryad that Dad put in the cabin after you died to… to keep me company.”

“... That was unusually nice of him.” 

“Yeah.” Pollux paused. “... Do you have any new friends?”

“Just one.” Castor sighed. “When I… when I first came down, I was… I wasn’t feeling… feeling very well. I… I felt like… I felt like I abandoned you, And… and I met someone who… who felt the same way. Lee Fletcher from Apollo cabin.”

“Will Solace’s brother?” Nico blurted, despite himself. 

“Yeah. Him.” Castor paused. “... You know he died for him, right?”

“... I know. Will never forgave himself for letting that happen.”

“Tell him to forgive himself. I know for a fact that Lee would never want Will to feel bad. He loves that boy.” Castor shook his head. 

“... I will,” Nico murmured softly. “Of course I will. I’d be more than happy to.”

“Awesome.” Castor made a tiny smile. “... Thank you so much. I know Lee’s gonna be happy about that too.”

Castor’s image flickered and Pollux bit back a whimper. “I can’t hold you here for much longer. Is there anything you want to say to Pollux before you go?” Nico asked.

“... I love you. I’m sorry. I never wanted to leave you alone.”

“I love you too,” Pollux sobbed. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t save you. It’s all my fault. I’m so… I’m so sorry.”

“Pollux.” Castor’s voice was gentle. “Pollux, you wouldn’t have been  _ able _ to save me even if we hadn’t been separated from the rest of the group.”

Pollux sniffled. “... I’m still sorry.”

Castor sighed. “... I know. Just…” He flickered again, for longer this time. “... Okay, I’m fading. Don’t blame yourself for my death, okay?”

“... I won’t,” Pollux whispered, his eyes pouring tears as Castor’s image faded away entirely. 

“... I’m sorry,” Nico murmured after he had disappeared. “I really am.”

Pollux shook his head and put his hands over his eyes to hide the tears. 

“... Is there anything I can do for you?” Nico asked.

Pollux hiccuped slightly. “... No, I… I… you can’t bring him back for good, can you?”

Nico winced. “... Well… no, not without my father’s permission, which he’d probably never give. Now… there is one more way to bring a dead man back that I know of, but you’d need… need a soul. Another soul. A soul who… who had escaped death in the past.”

“So… to get my brother back, I’d need to kill a man?” Pollux asked weakly.

“... If you want to make it sound bad, sure.”

Pollux sighed. “... I don’t want to kill anyone.”

Nico nodded. “I didn’t think you would.” He paused. “... I-I’m really sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You ‘re just the messenger. Your dad makes the rules.” Pollux sniffled. 

Nico patted his back. “Would you… would you like me to shadow-travel you home?”

“... I think I’ll walk,” Pollux sighed. He stood up and brushed the dirt from his knees. 

“Are you okay to walk? Do you want me to walk with you, or do you need some time alone?”

“I… I… I’d say I want some time alone, but… I think we may be going to see the same person. So maybe we should walk together.”

“Wait, who are we going to see?”

“You’re going to see Will Solace, right?”

“Well… yeah. Just to tell him what happened and that your two brothers are friends.”

Pollux wiped his eyes again. “I was… headed there, too.”

“You need some healing, don’t you?” Nico’s dark eyes glimmered with something akin to sympathy. 

“... I guess you can say that,” Pollux admitted. They began their walk back home. “I… I’m sorry if it feels like I’m trying to steal your boy. I just… he and I… he and I helped each other a lot after the Battle of the Labyrinth. Even though he was so much younger than me, he was a…” Pollux swallowed and stopped. Nico looked back at him. “... He was a really good friend.”

Nico nodded. “Yeah. I can see that, yeah. I should tell Will that if the doctor business falls through he should become a grief counselor. He’d be good at it.”

Pollux nodded, wiped his eyes and followed Nico back to camp.

Will sighed and fidgeted with the cuff of his infirmary jacket. He was pretty bored, all things considered. Today was a slow day in the infirmary, with only one little girl in with a mild fever. It was only the flu, he had decided, and she was lying in the bed doped up on Advil and cough syrup. Will was really only there to keep an eye on her. Gods, how he wished he had a qualified nurse on hand for situations like this. 

Will was just about to excuse himself to get a Gatorade— boredom thirst, he supposed— when Nico came through the door, Pollux on his tail. “Hey, guys. Are you all right?”

Pollux looked up. “I… ah…” 

“Should I explain?” Nico asked.

Pollux nodded. Nico looked back at Will. “Can we talk for a second?” 

Will cocked his head. “... Sure. I’m on a slow day anyway. But we have to talk in one of the… in one of the private rooms, okay? Just so I’m not flat-out missing if someone comes in hurt.”

Pollux nodded. “Of course.”

Once they were in the private room, Will sat them down on the bed and sat crisply in the chair beside it with one leg crossed over the other. “So,” Will replied brightly. “What’s wrong?”

Pollux fixed his gaze on Will’s, then looked away. “... This is kind of difficult to explain, but…”

“But?” 

“We were… summoning the dead today,” murmured Pollux. “Castor.”

“And? Are you okay?” Will asked gently. 

“... Yeah. I’m okay. And we have a message for you.”

“Okay.”

“... And… your brother, Lee Fletcher, he wants to say… he wants to tell you that… it wasn’t your fault. And that he… he loves you.”

Nico saw Will’s face contort before he snapped his head down. Nico and Pollux went to his side. Pollux put his arms around Will and eased his head against his chest. Nico perched on the very edge of the chair next to him and leaned his head against his shoulder, wrapping his arms around his back.

Pollux felt Will’s tears soak his shirt. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Will hiccuped. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. How many times have I cried on your shoulder?” Pollux ruffled Will’s hair. “It’s no problem for me.”

“... Thanks,” Will murmured miserably. 

“You’re welcome,” Pollux whispered. He pulled away and patted Will’s face dry with his sleeve. 

Will held his hand to his cheek for a minute before releasing it. “Thanks… again.”

Pollux patted Will’s shoulder. “You gonna be okay?”

Will sniffled. “... Yeah. I’ll be okay.”

“Good,” Pollux responded, grinning. “Glad to hear it.”

Nico gave him a little squeeze and pulled away himself. Will looked back at him. His blue irises shone brilliantly against his bloodshot sclera. “Yeah, We’re all worried about you, man.”

Will gave a shaky smile. “Don’t worry about me, guys. I’ll be fine. But… Nico?”

“Yeah?”

“... Will you summon Lee back for me? Not now, but… later. Sometime when I’m a little more put together? I… I don’t want to cry in front of him.”

“Of course,” Nico responded. “Anything for you, Solace.”


End file.
